hello everyone so yes im super new and have a dilemma about lighting in an INDOOR pool.My housing does not have any connections for strobes or any other light.(it was a super good deal:) i want to photography babies!(http://www.littleurchins.com zena holloway of course) ...so could a strobe stay on contantly? or would a dive light or focus light be better? how strong should the lights be? what brand? how many?,,would adusting the white balance and perhaps getting those "magic filters" be better or would it be better to change color in photoshop so your focus/f is not slower? Sorry for all the questions and i know this website is SUPER informative but most of it is for deep sea and im not sure if the same rules apply? I even read the pool photography but not very specific for what i need to know.......if anyone can help out i would SO SO greatly appreciate it!

I think you are going to have severe problems with CW lighting in an indoor pool and not have any strobes. If you get enough light near the pool deck you can get some nice pics (maybe) but most likely you won't be able to get the kind of quality your customers will need. Maybe you should rent a camera system since it appears that you don't quite have the tools necessary for the job yet.

riss wrote:hello everyone so yes im super new and have a dilemma about lighting in an INDOOR pool.My housing does not have any connections for strobes or any other light.(it was a super good deal:) i want to photography babies!(http://www.littleurchins.com zena holloway of course) ...so could a strobe stay on contantly? or would a dive light or focus light be better? how strong should the lights be? what brand? how many?,,would adusting the white balance and perhaps getting those "magic filters" be better or would it be better to change color in photoshop so your focus/f is not slower? Sorry for all the questions and i know this website is SUPER informative but most of it is for deep sea and im not sure if the same rules apply? I even read the pool photography but not very specific for what i need to know.......if anyone can help out i would SO SO greatly appreciate it!

a very desperate newbie from california Riss

Can you give us more info, what is the camera and the housing, it might be possible to gett optical triggered strobe running on your housing, or maybe have some strobe connector installed ... or not, knowing what camera and housing you have will help. Indoor pool are typically ruthless, with either poor lighting or mixed lighting (industrial light + daylight) very bad combination for color and for getting stop action shutter speed. the strobes main quality is to provide quick burst of light at a sufficient level to stop (freeze) the action of the subject, shooting with available light in a indoor pool will more than likely result in blurry subject due to either camera movement (you), subject movement (blurry limbs) or a combination of both you and the subject, you can raise the ISO value, but there is normally a steep price in quality to pay for this increase.

On the other if you have large window, time your session when the sun is shinning through these, for filling in the shadow, you can uses foldable Lite Disc type of reflector or you can go to the auto strore and get windshield shade (preferrably the plain white one without the Tweety bird on them ), they are inexpensive and seem to hold on pretty well (at least mines) underwater. If you manage to find silver/aluminum ones, then you will have more light bouncing back on your subject. I typically use these reflectors mainly outside (and being Canadian, should I say, in the summer only) and will ask if the pump for the pool can be ut down. otherwise the reflector will act as a sail and will be a PITA to kep in position .